Getting the Message
by binkeybella
Summary: A continuation of the "Time Out" series. This time it's Abby's turn...sort of.


Gibbs had _had it_. He was done with the threats, done with the glares. He hadn't been getting enough sleep lately, even by his meager standards, and the case they were on was totally screwed up, chasing leads in every conceivable direction and then coming up empty-handed. Abby _knew _he was on a short fuse, but she kept baiting him anyways. Sometimes she was worse than DiNozzo, and Gibbs knew it was because she loved flaunting the fact that he let her 'get away' with so much. He'd never head-slapped her, never spanked her like he'd threatened to in the past. Only one thing to do.

"DiNozzo, go stand in the corner."

Both Tony and Abby stared at him in shock and confusion.

"B-boss?"

"In the corner. Twenty minutes. No talking, no singing, no turning around."

"But I - I didn't _do _anything! _Did _I?" Tony asked, confused.

"Nope. Not _this _time."

"Then why-"

"Half an hour now."

Tony's mouth went shut like a clam and he shot bolts of fire out of his eyes at Abby as he turned to find a corner to stand in.

"Way to _go, _Abby!" he snapped at her before he turned to face the walls.

"Alright, Abs, get to work, and no talking to Tony. I'll know it if you do, and you know I will."

"But Gibbs, it was _me-e-e_! _I _was the one who was being bad!"

"Yup, I _know_! Get to work, I'll be down in -" he checked his watch "-twenty-seven minutes. You talk to him, he'll be there the rest of the day."

Gibbs turned on his heel and exited the lab before she could make another protest. He needed coffee, and a break from both of them, to be honest. A nice stroll to his favorite 'caffeine dealers', as Kate called them, would take away some of his irritation at the day and the people in it.

He could only imagine all the names his SFA was calling him at the moment, in his head of course; he knew DiNozzo wouldn't make a peep. Heck, his jaws were probably clenched too tightly together to get his mouth open. Gibbs ordered four coffees—one with hazelnut flavoring and sugar—and two large bear claw pastries. He then strolled casually down the sidewalk, organizing his scattered thoughts and trying to relax his tense neck muscles.

Once back in the bullpen, Gibbs set one of the coffees down in front of Kate, who had her head down, stuck in a file from their current case. She looked up at him in surprise and a bit of shock, but then smiled and thanked him for the drink, going back to her reading. He checked his watch. By the time he got back down to Abby's lab, he could yank Tony out of the corner and give him his coffee and pastry.

He strode into the lab with a renewed purpose, drink and pastry bag in hand, and found the two exactly as he had left them: DiNozzo silently studying the wall, still seething, and Abby hunched over her worktable, shooting occasional guilt-filled glances over at her best friend.

"Time's up, DiNozzo!" he announced loudly, giving Abby a scrutinizing look on his way through.

Tony turned to both of them in a huff, and made to escape the lab, but Gibbs grabbed his arm before he could get by. "Stand down, Tony." He shoved the coffee and bag into Tony's hand and patted his face. "Ya did _good, _DiNozzo."

"Then why did I get punished when it was _Abby _being an ass?"

"Cause punishing _her _like this wouldn't have sunk _in._ Back in basic in the Corps, one person screwed up, the whole platoon got punished. It was to let you know that your stupid actions, intentional or not, could get your entire _platoon _killed. You screw up, you're not the only one that pays for it. Abs would've thought anything I did to her was funny; she wasn't laughing when I punished _you _instead. Were ya, Abs?"

"No, Gibbs," Abby answered quietly and contritely, looking forlornly at Tony. '"I'm sorry, Tony. Gibbs is right, I would've thought whatever he did was a joke, but I hated you getting punished for me being stupid."

Tony studied her, fishing around in the pastry bag. "You only got one bear claw, Boss. And no Caf-Pow."

"Well, _yeah, _DiNozzo, you really think I was gonna _reward _her for trying to get a rise outta me? "

"Well, yeah, I guess not."

"Come on then, let's get back to this goatrope of a case and see if we can salvage some of the weekend before it gets away from us."

"Yeah, right behind ya, Boss." Tony set his coffee down on Abby's lab table and opened up the pastry bag, pulling out the bear claw. He tore it into two messy pieces, handed one to Abby, and licked his sugary fingers. "Ya know I love ya, Abs, but you ever do that to me again, I'll make ya clean my master bathroom with a toothbrush. _Your _toothbrush."

"DiNozzo, you aimin' to spend more time in the corner today?" Gibbs yelled from the lab doorway.

"No way, Boss, on your six." He grabbed up his coffee and hurried to catch up with his boss. "Later, Abs!" he yelled over his shoulder.

"You weren't supposed to share that with her, DiNozzo, it was a reward for _you _and a head slap to _her_!"

"I know, Boss, but I couldn't not share it with her. Besides, she looked so woebegone..."

"Woebegone, DiNozzo?"

"Yeah, boss. Y'know…sad, sorrowful, gloomy..."

He was about to go on when something came from behind and bumped into him, sloshing his coffee onto his shirtsleeve. He hissed at the burn and closed his eyes, knowing who had him in a chest lock from behind. "Abs…coffee?"

"Oh, sorry, Tony, did I - sorry, I just had to make sure you knew, cause I didn't really get a chance before Gibbs dragged you outta there -"

"_Dragged _him, Abs?"

"Well, _you _know what I mean…anyways I needed to _tell _you. I'm sorry I screwed up and you were punished for it, and you're an excellent friend for being punished in my place and still sharing half your bear claw with me. Nobody could ever have a better friend than you." She turned pointedly to Gibbs. "_C__ould _they, Gibbs?"

"Nope, don't think so, Abs."

"Okay then. Get back to work. And _I'll _get back to work. And I'm sorry to you too, Gibbs. Sometimes I get carried away and I shouldn't. Please don't punish Tony in my place again, he gets enough headslaps from you, he doesn't deserve time-outs too."

"I'll keep it in mind, Abs. More importantly, _you _keep it in mind next time you set out to see how far you can push me."

"Yeah, Gibbs, I will, I swear. Now be nice to Tony, don't go punishing him when Kate pisses you off."

"Abs..." Gibbs growled in a warning voice.

"Right, okay! Back to work, _all _of us." She wheeled away and hurried back to her lab, leaving an amused Tony and a weary Gibbs standing in the hallway.

"I think you made an impression on her, Boss."

"Yeah, well, had to be done. Sometimes she pushes too far."

"She doesn't _mean_to, Boss."

"Yes she _does, _Tony. She's used to showing everyone just how much she can get away with with me, and today was not a good day to flaunt it! She needed to finally get the message that there's a limit to it."

"I think she did, Boss. I'd rather you didn't use me an example the next time, though."

"I bought you a large coffee and a bear claw to make up for it, DiNozzo, suck it up. Besides, it was a half-hour you didn't have to be working on this idiot case, so don't complain."

"Yeah, actually, it _was _kind of nice not to have to be making all those calls for a while. But don't do it to me again."

"Huh, you think either one of you won't piss me off enough to make me put one of you there again?"

"No. Just next time, it's Kate's turn. She's another one that gets to push your buttons and not get called on it."

Gibbs stopped walking before they got to the elevator and turned to look at his second. "I _expect _more from you, DiNozzo."

"I _know _ya do, Boss, but sometimes - sometimes it's hard being the middle kid getting the double-standard. You should expect as much from Kate and Abby, they've got just as much potential as I do. You shouldn't slack off on them just 'cause they're girls."

"You tellin' me how to do my job, DiNozzo?" Gibbs growled as he got into Tony's space.

"No, Boss." Tony answered back quietly. "Just askin' you to spread the 'love' around a little more evenly."

Gibbs was readying to jump on him again about his sarcasm, but then thought back to Tony sharing half of his bear claw with Abby, when the kid could probably eat three of them by himself in one sitting. His ire cooled quickly and he turned and punched the button to bring the elevator. It wasn't DiNozzo's fault that the case wasn't coming together or that Abby knew she had him wrapped around her little finger. And really, he had taken _her _punishment with his usual good grace.

"I'll take it into consideration, DiNozzo. Solve this damned case for me and I'll buy ya dinner."

"Really? Just me? No Abby or Kate yacking while we're eating?"

"Nope, just _you _yacking, DiNozzo. And I'll make sure Abby knows about it."

"Cool! Oh, wait, do I get to pick where? I mean, it's not gonna be like Mickey D's or something..."

"Have you ever known me to willingly eat at Mickey D's, DiNozzo? I was thinking that new steakhouse Ducky just took his gal pal to."

"Yeah, Boss, that would definitely take the bitter taste of Abby's punishment out of my mouth."

"Yeah, thought so. Let's wrap up the case before you start perusing the menu."

"Sure, Boss, uh - could you not say anything to Kate about me standing in the corner for half an hour? She'll never let me hear the end of it."

"Are you kidding? You don't think Abby was on the phone to her the second we got in the elevator?"

Tony blanched, and heaved a sigh. "Yeah, well. Just in case."

"Sure, DiNozzo. I won't say anything. But if she gives you any grief, I'll make sure she's the next one with her nose facing the wall."

"Oh, that would be _sweet, _Boss, almost makes me want to tell her myself."

"You _do _and you'll be joining her."

They strode into the bullpen as if nothing odd had happened, but Kate gave them both questioning looks, and Gibbs read her profiler mind.

"Don't gothere, Kate, it's none of your business," Gibbs informed her without even looking back her way.

"I wasn't going to pick on him, Gibbs. Abby told me to be extra nice to him, she just didn't say why."

"Oh. Well, as a matter of fact..." Tony said to no one in particular as he settled down behind his desk "I'm not feeling well, and Abs is just watching out for me..."

"Oh fer..." Gibbs huffed behind his computer. "DiNozzo."

Kate spoke again, hardly any annoyance in her tone, looking at Tony with something like care. "You want me to get you something from the bistro? She said you didn't have lunch yet."

Gibbs made to protest again, but decided to just not waste the energy.

"You mind if I go grab us lunch, Gibbs?" Kate questioned. "It's almost 1300."

"Go!" he waved her off, still not looking up from his computer.

"What sounds good to you, Tony?" Kate asked, rising from her desk.

"Well, none of that tofu-veggie burger crap."

"How about some soup and half a tuna sandwich, that shouldn't be too much for you to manage."

"No, Katie, I think I can manage that just fine, thanks, let me..." He reached for his wallet.

"No, no, my treat, Tony, really. I'll be right back, call me if you think of anything you need while I'm out."

She smiled kindly at him and breezed to the elevator. Tony looked over at Gibbs, who was now looking at him intently. The younger man shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe you should punish Abby more often, Boss. I kinda _like _this!"

"Huh. Makes ya wonder what she told Kate."

"Must've been good, like, I'm dying or have some chronic disease or something," Tony mused.

Gibbs shook his head. "What you _have_is chronic diarrhea of the mouth, DiNozzo. Get to work."

"Eww, Boss, that's…actually pretty accurate," the SFA conceded. "Getting back to work now."

"So, DiNozzo, tell me again about how bad it is being the middle kid..."


End file.
